News

Communication Studies NCA Presentations Include Top Paper Honors

Posted Dec. 3, 2012

By Khalil Dixon

Several faculty and graduate students in the School of Communication Studies at Kent State University participated in the National Communication Association's (NCA) 98th Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida from November 15-18, 2012. A paper by Dr. Jeffrey T. Child and David Westermann was recognized as a top paper and a video presentation by Ph.D. candidate Norma Jones attracted international media interest.

"Let's Be Facebook Friends: Exploring Parental Facebook Friend Requests from a Communication Privacy Management (CPM) Perspective" by Dr. Jeffrey T. Child and David A.Westermann was recognized as a Top Four Paper for the Family Communication division.The study explored a range of factors that illuminate young adult decision-making about the type of access allowed for each parent in terms of participating as a part of their Facebook space. Child is an associate professor and the undergraduate coordinator in the School of Communication Studies. Westermann is a master's degree graduate from the school.

Child also played a significant service role for the NCA by organizing seven Scholar-to-Scholar (S2S) sessions on a wide range of topics across all units and interest groups of the NCA. The sessions included "Communication in a Global Society," "Communication and the Maintenance of Diverse Relationships," "Communication, Politics, and Popular Culture," "Communication, Technology, and Media Use and Effects," "COMMunity through Social Media and Computer-mediated Interactions," "Rhetorical and Critical Perspectives" and "How Individuals Process, Construct, and Respond to Messages."These S2S sessions featured more than 200 papers and presentations reflecting critical issues faced by communication scholars throughout the discipline.

A video submitted by Norma Jones fora panel of the NCA Forum and Research Board was picked up by Firstpost, an online newsroom in India. The panel, titled, "What Just Happened - Call and Response on the 2012 Election," included the video "Beyond the Daisy ad - Election2012: Political Advertisements and the Persuadable Middle." Jones is a doctoral student in the College of Communication and Information. The video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HItyo9oGD2A

The following also represented Kent State as presenters during the conference: